Is there any reason why the significant cycling sub culture of BMX is not included in this forum?

BMX had, & currently has, a large following & BMX restorers are more dedicated & more fervent in their persuits than most traditional bike restorers.

BMX is also an Olympic sport these days while Dragster, Lowrider & Cruiser riding is not.BMX also has a significant, if reasonably recent, history & they should not be regarded as just a bunch of kids bikes as riders well into their 40's are still riding in competition the same bikes that they had in their teens, so in this case, size does not matter.

Incidentally, my own Australian made 1981 Quicksilver is still leading our retro race series by two points with one round to go. This series is sponsored by Mongoose, so they at least regard this as still being a significant part of the cycling scene.

Number 32 is mine with that BMX icon, the Quicksilver 'Team Helium' behind it.Only about 150 or so of the Heliums were made & I count myself lucky to have one production example & one of the three hand made lightweight Heliums that were made in December 1981 for the factory team riders.

This is the over 40 [years old] class with my Quickie in the lead & this series is for pre 1986 bikes.No. 555, [almost obscured, far left] is a 1982 Mongoose & is still raced by it's original owner who won the Australian title in his class on this same bike back when it was new.Old juveniles, it would seem, never grow old.

Oh yeah, just to make the connection, take a Dragster, ditch the un-needed parts, substitute some BMX parts & you gave a cool 20" Cruiser.The bike behind it is the only 'currently' known surviving example of the Quicksilver 'Limited Edition' which was on offer for the month of December 1981 only.

Kid_Carbine wrote:Is there any reason why the significant cycling sub culture of BMX is not included in this forum?

G'day

Given the amount of postings here it would seem it is not a topic of much interest to the membership currently but. Of course that may change. I will raise it with the moderators the possibility of changing the title of this sub-forum to include BMX.

Well the sixth & last round of season 1 of our retro race series has been run & won. In the over 40 class, it was won by the QRD team. [Quicksilver Racing Developments] Thats us, ... us being me, the team owner, & my rider Simon.

I am now busily preparing my 1981 Factory Team bike, the 'lightweight' Team Helium, for season two when my stable will have doubled out to two bikes & riders & I have another also wanting to join the team to compete in the under 40's. She's a VERY capable rider too but I do not currently have a spare Quickie to build as a racer for her.

This is my new racer's frame. The two valves in the top & down tubes were to allow these tubes to be pressurised at more than 120psi with Helium gas.Helium is inert & dry & it was used to help stiffen the very thin tubing that was used to build these frames, hence the model name 'Team Helium' The Team Helium model replaced the previous production race frame which was known simply as the 'Team' model & both it & the Helium were made to customer order only. The earlier Team model seems to have never appeared in promotional brochures either, but the Helium did.

The hole in the left seat stay was there before it was chromed from new & it is non standard for this model.Even the original factory frame welder who actually made it doesn't remember why it's there. [Each frame bore the code for the welder who made it] He has the original jig that it was built in & he has it now for repairs to the chain rub ussues to the right seat stay.I even had it de-chromed, before welding repairs, by the same company that chromed it when it was new. [Blu Chrome in Bankstown.]

It will be built up with Campagnolo hubs & almost all new-old-stock components. The budget for it is in the thousands [Ouch]

1. For season 2 of our Retro race series, my race bike & new rider have now completed two rounds. That's six starts & six wins, so I'm happy about that.2. I have secured yet another of the rare Team Helium race frames, so two of them will be restorations & one will be raced.3. I have also secured two of the even more rare 'Team' model race frames. These were the first of the factory race frames & one will be restored, the other will be raced, giving me a total of three race bikes in my team.

Kid_Carbine wrote:Oh yeah, just to make the connection, take a Dragster, ditch the un-needed parts, substitute some BMX parts & you gave a cool 20" Cruiser.The bike behind it is the only 'currently' known surviving example of the Quicksilver 'Limited Edition' which was on offer for the month of December 1981 only.

I was given a dragster frame and have been thinking to make a mini cruiser out of it. However, my young cousin is now 12 years old and starting to hit growth spurts!

7. Don't think I don't like them. I have several BMX bikes. I have dozens of choppers too.

8. I'm not happy that a fly by night suggestion can just move in on us?

Oh dear, it seems that somebody has been drinking a bit much "Wild Turkey" today, but never mind, let me address just a few of your concerns.

1. "BMX is big enough to have its own section" Agreed, please re-read the first line of the first post. [You DID actually read it before running off at the mouth didn't you?]

2. Clog up this forum. Perhaps you should go back to school & learn how to count. I have opened ONE thread in a forum containing tens of thousands of threads.If you think that is "cloging up this forum" then you are both delusional & profoundly stupid.

3. An astute observation, however this is an Australian based bicycle forum & among my collection of other bicycles & also have a collection of Australian BMX Bicycles. So lets review. Aussie Bicycle forum, ... I am a member with some Aussie bicycles, .... your problem being?

4. This is "OUR" only dragster/chopper/low rider forum! I presume that you include me in the word "OUR" since I too am a member of this forum.Is somebody trying to take it away from you? No? I didn't think so, yet you whip yourself into a frenzy pretending that you are under attack. Why is this?

5. BMX BARGING in? My, you do have a way with words.This thread was started on Monday, the 22nd of June 2009, so it has taken you six months & four days to even realise that this thread was here, & now you run off at the mouth as if this part of the forum was your own personal & private domain, Mr 67 posts in a year. From this I will assume that you are a Johnny-come-lately to this forum & it would seem that you want to run the show. I wish you well.Barging-in indeed. Perhaps you should learn how to use the English language.

Lets have a look at the facts.

According to my copy of "BMX down under", [1981] the earliest MX bikes [not BMX] were either stripped down dragsters that were rebuilt or modified for the purpose, or specialised motorcycle lookalikes with suspension.How are low riders & choppers made? Arent many of them based on modified dragster frames? Well there's our first direct connexion. The 20" wheels would be another, & the fact that the earliest BMX races were heavily populated with BMX modified dragsters would solidly cement the linking of the two.OH yeah, it was Competition Development, the manufacturer of Quicksilver BMX that was directly responsible for geting BMX racing started in Australia in 1978 at Busaco Rd Ryde. There were plenty of dragsters, both modified & stock, that were in attendance at these events too.

6. You don't see the connexion? Why am I not surprised. This is a statement that I often hear from the ill educated, the unknowing & the profoundly stupid.

7. You actually like BMX? How nice.

8. Fly by night? Perhaps you can provide a detailed explanation of just what this idiotic piece of stupidity actually means.Perhaps you can also provide a satisfactory explanation of the phrase "move in on us" Just who is US? Could it ber that "US" is the membership of this forum, or is it just you?

I have been a contributing member of this forum since the 14th of August 2007 with a post count of 1135 while you have been here sincethe 8th of january 2009 with a post count of a paltry 67, yet you presume to dictate to me about what & where I should post in this forum. Don't talk to me about "fly by night" you foolish boy.How about you run away little boy untill you sober up [lets face it, even your user name tells us you are obsessed with alcohol] then learn something about your subject, then shut the F*** up.

Last edited by Kid_Carbine on Sat Dec 26, 2009 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I note with interest that you failed to address even ONE of the questions directly posed to you. Why would that be, I wonder.Run far & run fast little boy & don't let the door hit you on the back on your way out.

Team QRD wins series 2 of the Retro Race Series in the over 40 class. The gods have smiled & it's 2 for 2.The bike has been further upgraded for the Grand Nationals where we finished mid field in the finals. I was happy with that as my rider put in a sterling effort against some quality interstate competition.

A check of international events showed that the Aussie Grand Nats were the largest of this type of retro competition in the world & we even had Luke Madill from the Aussie Olympic team in Bejing come & ride with us on a borrowed vintage GT.It doesn't mean that it was a huge event, but it does mean that Australia, despite its small population, can get serious about this category of the cycling scene.

This is a pic of most of the riders. The photo was shot before they all turned up because of the failing light. [It was a night event]

My bike is in the lower row, fourth from the right. [blue suited rider]

New wheels based around some Campy Record BMX hubs sure improved the cosmetics & they compliment the Campy Record crankset.It's come a long way from when we first turned up at the track over a year ago. [see the first post]

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